1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a panel operating apparatus and, more particularly, to a panel operating apparatus that can be operated in one manner selected from a touch manner and a tact manner.
2. Discussion of the Background
Generally, there are various kinds of panel operating apparatuses for changing information of display devices. Panel operating apparatuses are applied not only to various electronic appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, electric rice cookers, and the like, but also to various mobile communication terminals, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), navigation terminals, telematics terminals, and the like.
Such a panel operating apparatus can be classified into various types including a touch type. The touch type panel operating apparatus can also be classified into various types, such as a resistive touch type, a surface wave technique-based touch type, a capacitive touch type, and the like.
Particularly, in the capacitive touch type, when pressure is applied to a panel of the apparatus to cause the panel to be brought into contact with a circuit board, a small amount of charges are attracted toward a contact point and measured by circuits on a corner of the panel or on the circuit board to be processed by a controller.
However, in the case where the circuit board with the circuit pattern formed thereon is driven in the touch manner, the panel and the circuit board must be secured to each other using a separate adhesive layer or a screw, thereby deteriorating adhesion stability between the panel and the circuit board.
Further, the capacitive touch type has a problem in that the circuit board must be designed to secure an area for a predetermined pattern.
Further, in operation of the touch type panel operating apparatus, the touch sensitivity varies due to different individual features of operators, such as thickness of fingers, touch pressure, and the like.
Moreover, the touch sensitivity can also be differently exhibited according to use environments, temperature, seasons, and the like. Particularly, when the temperature changes abruptly, components of the apparatus such as integrated circuits and the like are highly likely to malfunction.
On the other hand, a tact type panel operating apparatus has many design restrictions relating to a shape of a switch or a contact method.
Therefore, there is a need to solve the above and other problems of the panel operating apparatus in the art.